


So Why Tell It?

by MoragMacPherson



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Bodhi Rook Week 2018, Established Relationship, M/M, and can offer a very different point of view vehemently, bodhi rook is a small angry man, who's had a very long week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 14:03:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16914231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoragMacPherson/pseuds/MoragMacPherson
Summary: Luke's not able to get to his x-wing after the Battle of Hoth. Thankfully, his boyfriend can give him a ride.





	So Why Tell It?

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to eisoj5 for her beta work. A belated fill for day 5 of Bodhi Rook Week 2018 "Alternate Universes". Title is from the song [3's & 7's](https://genius.com/Queens-of-the-stone-age-3s-and-7s-lyrics), thanks again to eisoj5 for recommending 'just use some lyrics from the last song you listened to' completely innocent of how on the nose those lyrics might be.

To be fair: the landing doesn't rank in the top ten that Bodhi's ever made. Not even the top twenty. Cassian had done better on Eadu. Then again, on Eadu, Cassian had Bodhi as a guide, and a lot more… land, to land on. After the past week they've just had, Bodhi's simply going to be grateful that he, Luke, and Artoo are all alive and intact, and that the shuttle is only three-quarters of the way stuck in the swamp water here on Dagobah. 

Even if he and Luke are only sort of talking right now. 

Bodhi sighs as he climbs out of the water with the last of their possessions, trudging over to where Luke is starting to make camp, now that he's helped clear the last of the swamp water out of Artoo. "So—any clue where this venerable Jedi master might be?" he asks lightly, wringing his hair out once he drops the cases, which are vacuum-proof so he's pretty sure they're waterproof as well. 

Luke shakes his head as he opens up the case Bodhi's just dropped. "No— thought I'd be able to sense him but there's—there's just a lot of life here, hard to pick anything out," he says, face lighting up when he finds the power generator safe and dry inside. 

"So, not like on Hoth where you couldn't sense the wampa," says Bodhi drily, before he can think better of it, and cringes as he watches Luke's face shutter all over again. "Sorry—sorry. It's just—it's been a tough week and I'm—I'm glad I'm here with you, and I'm sorry," he says, crouching down to give Luke a hug, which, after a few moments, Luke actually returns. That helps to quell the thoughts of ' _even though you'd planned on coming here without me and not telling me_ ,' but they'd already fought enough about that while they'd been in hyperspace. 

"This is a disaster, isn't it?" says Luke, biting on his lip as he pulls away. "What are we even doing here?" 

Bodhi takes a long breath as he goes hunting for some dry clothes— not that they're likely to _stay_ dry, but he's going to chafe if he stays in the ones he has on. "No, it's not—Hoth was a disaster, this is just inconvenient. But we'll make it work," he says, pressing a kiss to Luke's forehead. "We'll just—we'll finish making camp, have something to eat, and then tomorrow I'll start working on getting the ship out of the swamp while you try to hunt down your Jedi master. Or maybe he'll come looking for you—he's the trained Jedi, after all." 

Luke makes a grab for his hand, nuzzling against it briefly. "Thank you. You're right. I'm just… tired, that's all." He sighs. "But I am glad that you're here," he says, looking up at Bodhi, and it feels like an honest enough apology. 

Bodhi smiles down at Luke. "Let's make camp and then, yes, some sleep will probably do us both some good," he says, tousling Luke's hair. Thankfully, camp comes together quickly enough once Luke has the generator up and running. Bodhi half wonders if the forest around them is Force sensitive or something, because they aren't exactly having to fight the creepy-crawlies off now that they've claimed their space, though Artoo remains vigilant. But the one casualty of the crash seems to be the heating plate, and nothing on this planet is anywhere near dry enough to burn. "Vegmeat sticks and ration bars for dinner it is," Luke says with a soft groan as he tosses the heating plate aside. 

Bodhi lets out another sigh and reaches for the plate, though he does take a stick of vegmeat when Luke opens the box in his direction. "I will look at this in the morning—at least I hope this is evening, if this is as strong as the light gets in this place, I'm gonna go blind trying to fix this thing," he says, setting the heating plate aside for now as he chews on the vegmeat. "While you're busy looking for—what did you say the Jedi's name was?" 

Luke sits down next to Bodhi after he sets Artoo to charge, letting their shoulders rub together. "Yoda, if he even exists and wasn't just a hallucination I had while almost freezing to death— but at least this planet's warm," he mutters, leaning his head on Bodhi's shoulder. 

But Bodhi is off in his tattered memories, remembering a particular parade day when he'd been— he couldn't have been more than four, and how excited his mother had been, because they weren't just going to see a Jedi, but a very _important_ Jedi, come to the Temple on pilgrimage and Bodhi— there'd been something about him that had struck Bodhi, even though he'd been so small and far from the parade, couldn't sit on his mother's shoulders any longer— maybe he'd been five, he just can't put the memories in order any more, but he thinks he remembers the name, Yoda, and he can almost remember the sound of his mother's voice. "I—I think Yoda _was_ a Jedi," he manages, his throat going tight. 

Luke's tapping him on the shoulder, a concerned look on his face. "Hey— it's okay, you're right here," and the concerned look turns self-deprecating. "On Dagobah. It's a weird place," he mutters, popping the rest of his vegmeat into his mouth as he tightens his arm around Bodhi in reassurance. "Feels… I don't know. Sort of familiar, like something out of a dream." 

Bodhi lets out a soft snort, letting go of the memory for a moment. "Doesn't sound like a very good dream." 

"No, not a good dream," agrees Luke, his hand dropping to his own side. "Actually, feels more like—" and Bodhi barely registers a soft "Feels like?" behind them before Luke's unholstered his blaster and spun around. "Like we're being watched," growls Luke. 

"Away put your weapon! I mean you no harm," whimpers a tiny, coarseweave-cloaked figure sitting on the log behind them. Bodhi stares at both the cowering creature and at Luke, who at least hadn't completely missed something sneaking up on him this time. The creature lowers its arm and reveals a wrinkled, green face, eyes trained on Luke's blaster. "I am wondering, why are you here?" 

Bodhi arches his eyebrows, but Luke simply replies, "We're looking for someone," as he cautiously lowers the blaster. 

The little green man chuckles. "Looking? Found someone you have, I would say, hmm?" And as the creature laughs, Bodhi can't help but notice that he hasn't spared him a single glance yet, even now that Luke's lowered the blaster. "Help you I can, yes, hmmm," continues the creature, proceeding down the log. 

Luke's actually putting his blaster _away_ now. "I don't think so," he says. "We're looking for a great warrior," and Bodhi sees Luke glance up at him, but Bodhi can't take his eyes off the intruder, who seems—he's not moving quite right, but he does seem familiar, and unlike the creepy crawlies, seems to have no problem waltzing into their camp 

"Oh? 'A great warrior," parrots the creature, laughing. "Wars not make one great," he says before helping himself to a stick of vegmeat. 

Even as Luke's yelling at him to put it down, Artoo is bleeting unhappily in Binary. ' _twenty years and you wouldn't believe the things I've been through even in the last twenty hours and now you're playing games?_ ' and _that_ clinches it. 

Bodhi reaches for the box of food, laying a hand on Luke's shoulder. "And apparently they don't make you very tall either." He kneels respectfully despite the fact that the tiny green Jedi is glaring at him now. "We'd be honored to share our food with you, blessed master," says Bodhi, doing his best to make his mother proud. 

Luke looks a little sick to his stomach when Bodhi glances back at him, and Bodhi sighs. "I—I remember seeing you on pilgrimage to Jedha, when I was a child. You led the parade that day—gave a—well, I was too short to see most of it, but I remember the noises from the crowd, it must have been a very impressive demonstration," he says to balm Luke's embarrassment, reaching back with his hand to stroke Luke's thigh soothingly. 

But Yoda doesn't look particularly impressed with his anecdote or the vegmeat. "And yet you get so big eating food of this kind. How?" he asks dismissively, eyeing Bodhi's hand on Luke's leg with obvious displeasure. "Eat we must, come come, good food have I," he says airily, turning away and grabbing a small glowlamp from their possessions as he leads the way. 

Still he's moving slowly enough that Bodhi has time to give Luke a small hug. "You did fine. I don't think—I don't think exile has been kind to him," he whispers. 

Luke nods tightly. "Still—he could have bothered to ask our names," he says. 

Bodhi shakes his head, glancing over at Artoo who's chirping unhappily that he'll just stay here to charge and watch the camp. "I think he already knows yours—and mine doesn't matter so much," he replies with a self-deprecating smile, pressing a quick kiss to Luke's cheek that he doesn't care whether Yoda sees or not. "But the Force didn't send me on this trip, it sent you, so it's fine. Come on," he says, following Yoda deeper into the swamp, and supremely grateful for the way that Luke catches up with him to curl their fingers together. 

Yoda's dwelling is not all that far a walk from their campsite, and it's a good fit for Yoda himself: plain to the point of ascetic and cramped for anyone taller than a meter. Bodhi manages not to laugh the first time that Luke bonks his head against the ceiling, which is a good thing because he does it himself a few moments later. "I cooked— good food, yes," says Yoda as he bustles about, a bit faster on his feet in the comparative warmth of the hut, and Bodhi notices as they eat that Luke isn't looking quite as sullen as he has for the last few hours. 

Bodhi also notices that Yoda, perhaps out of practice after spending twenty years in exile, can't seem to stop glaring at him. 

But Bodhi's not a Jedi, and his mother raised him to respect them, and so he says nothing. 

Luke cleans his bowl of the mostly tasteless but warm stew, apparently collecting his thoughts before speaking. "So—you seem to know who I am, Master Yoda—did you know my father as well?" he asks, a hopeful rise to his voice. 

Yoda turns to stir the kettle. "Ah, father. Powerful Jedi was he," he says, voice weary and sad as he turns to look at Bodhi again, shaking his head before turning back to the hearth. "Passionate for your mother, he was," he adds in a even more grave tone, his shoulders slumping as he looks up. "I cannot teach him." 

Bodhi frowns, as confused as Luke appears when they exchange a glance. "Why can't you teach him?" asks Bodhi softly. 

"Much passion has he, like his father," replies Yoda, turning to face Luke. And then he adds, firmly and apparently apropos of nothing, "Concealed it well, they did, but turn a blind eye this time, I cannot." 

But Luke's brow has furrowed even deeper. "Wait, who's Padme?" 

Bodhi echoes the "Padme?" but now neither Luke nor Yoda seem to be listening to him, instead seeing or maybe hearing something fascinating coming from the ceiling, but whatever it is, Bodhi can't detect it. 

"What? I—but Ben told me to come here, and I'm—I'm ready to be trained," protests Luke. 

"For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi," rails Yoda. "My own counsel I will keep on who is to be trained," he adds, turning his face to the ceiling at the same time that Luke does. "A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, hmm? Not to a single person, but to the Force. A most serious mind, free from passion, open to serenity," he says, gesturing broadly with his walking stick. "That was your father's weakness, that is why he failed to stop the rise of Vader, and _that_ ," he declares, punctuating it by pointing his walking stick at Bodhi, "Will be your undoing as well. Repeat the mistakes of the past I will not—not again will I send another apprentice to his doom." 

Bodhi hasn't moved a millimeter since the start of the rant, simply too shocked by everything, but he manages to shift his gaze over to Luke just in time to see his reaction: the slight tremble of his lower lip, a passing quirk of disappointment, and then the jut of his chin in righteous fury. "Then there's nothing for me here, Ben. Let's go, Bodhi," he snarls, hurling the bowl into the hearth before half crawling out of the hovel, into the rain, and Bodhi faintly hears one of Artoo's concerned whistles, but he still can't fucking _move_. 

Yoda floats the bowl out of the fire and into his hand, setting it aside. "Told you I did. Too much anger. The other, teach the other I shall. But not him," says Yoda, barely audibly, and Bodhi half wonders if the coot's forgotten that he's here. 

Bodhi licks his lips, glancing at the door—eventually Luke will notice he hasn't followed—and then at the ceiling, figuring that after _that_ display, even a pious woman like his mother would forgive him for what he's about to say. "Did you like Jedha?" he asks, not letting his voice shake. 

Yoda's spine goes straight as he turns to Bodhi, his ears tilting forward. "Jedha?" 

Bodhi nods. "The Holy City. Eight hundred years—the time I saw you, it couldn't have been your only visit," he says, biting on his lip. "Did you like it?" 

A flash of hurt furrows Yoda's brow. "Strong in the Force it is. Serene, the songs of its crystals, and luminous its inhabitants—truly, dedicated to living in harmony with the Force, the people are. Learned much from the Guardians, did I. As far as places to come from, do worse, you certainly could." 

Bodhi shakes his head at the present tense. "I wish I could remember it so well. The Temple was sealed when I was only six years old." 

Yoda nods, the grave look returning, though his ears quirk up slightly. "A fine Guardian, Luke would have made. And perhaps, you as well. Less steeped in power that path is, but honorable still, yes, and the temptation to the dark side not so great— in their own ways, the Guardians protect the Force." Yoda appears almost wistful. "Train with them, Luke should. Happier you both will be." 

Bodhi keeps himself from shouting with an effort. "He does. With the _last_ two Guardians, because, well—I don't know how well informed you are, here, but Jedha is _gone_ ," he says, voice even, despite the tightness in his throat. "The entire Holy City, blasted off the face of a now broken moon. But you—you _do_ know that, don't you? When—when Alderaan—even Chirrut, a Guardian not-so-steeped-in-power—he felt it all the way on Yavin, collapsed in the middle of medbay, the droids were going nuts trying to figure it all out." Words spill out fast as he's pulled into the memory of Chirrut twitching and screaming, waking him up from his own drugged slumber and— 

"But you didn't do a damned thing about the Death Star. You hid out here," Bodhi says, shaking his head. He wants to stand up and loom over this tiny, broken creature, but the blasted ceiling won't let him, so he glares instead, pointing at the doorway Luke stormed out. "Luke— _he_ did something about the Death Star, and—Cassian, he was a _Separatist_ back during the Clone Wars, but he stood up against the Death Star, and the whole time, you were just _here_ ," he sneers, gesturing at the hovel and its meager contents. 

Yoda's eyes have shut and his ears flattened back, and Bodhi would feel bad about that, he _would_ , if Yoda hadn't said all those things before. "Twenty years of my homeland, that beautiful, luminous city, ground under the heel of the Empire, and the whole damn time, we thought the Jedi were gone, that's why they didn't come stop it, but they _weren't_ gone." His memories of his mother might not always be the clearest, but he knows she never lost faith and it _hurts_ to think of it now. "Turns out that you just abandoned us. And you're just going to—that's what you're going to keep doing? Well that's—maybe it's time for you to return to the Force after all, if that's all the good you're going to do here." 

Bodhi's panting by the end of this, and Luke's probably wondering what the hell is taking so long, but after twenty years of silence, Bodhi's not leaving until he gets a response. 

"Much anger, there is within you. But many truths as well. Difficult to escape, the truth is, even when in exile," says Yoda quietly, looking nearly as tired as Bodhi feels. "Particularly when allies you have among the dead," he adds, glancing up at the ceiling and letting out a long sigh. "Rude have I been. Tell me, angry messenger, what is your name?" 

Bodhi blinks a couple of times. "I—I'm Bodhi Rook," he says, swallowing roughly, realizing that he's unleashed twenty years of repressed fury on a Jedi who could probably cut him down without even thinking. 

Yoda nods, taking a few steps closer. "Not many are they who would speak their mind to a Jedi Master as you did. So, much bravery there is within you as well," he muses. "Accept it I must, that a new and terrible age we have entered. Relic of the past am I. Adapt we all must, else—yes, or else joining the Force, indeed, more productive would be." Yoda looks Bodhi up and down. "Know you that anger is the path to the dark side?" 

Bodhi bites on his lower lip as he shakes his head. "The Guardians never taught us that," he murmurs. 

Yoda's mouth quirks to the side. "They would not. Perhaps something important, it is for Luke to learn," he says, taking a seat on the bed. "And unable anyone else, to teach him better. Go, then, tell Luke that teach him I shall." 

Bodhi hesitates. "I—properly? As a Jedi? I'm just—I'm just so tired of seeing the universe disappoint him, so if this is—" 

"Sincere, yes, sincere I am, and train him as a Jedi I will," says Yoda, pulling a blanket over his lap as he floats another small log onto the fire. "Learn to trust each other, you and I will. But warn you I must, that many disappointments Luke will face, in a new and terrible age. And protect him, you cannot." 

Bodhi looks back towards the entry, sighing. "I know that," he admits. "Thank you, Master Yoda. I'll make sure Luke returns in the morning," he says as he starts to make his way to the door, feeling a bit of relief that he'd actually been able to sway the Jedi to Luke's side. 

But there is one thing still bothering him, and he can't keep himself from stopping at the door. "But if I hadn't—if you weren't going to teach Luke—it would be important for the Rebellion to know—who's the 'other' that you were going to teach?" 

It's a curious thing, to see a Jedi Master's eyes bug out and then watch as he tries to compose his face as if it had never happened. "A matter for another time, Bodhi Rook," he says flatly. 

"Another time, then," says Bodhi, before stepping out the door, off to find his boyfriend and bring him the good news. 


End file.
